Fiberglassing hull bottom, joining to keel, fairing hull bottom/keel.

Aug 11, 2019 - Sept 24, 2019.  Now that the hull bottom was cut to shape I was ready to fiberglass.  I started by cutting and laying out two strips of cloth to cover the bottom.  I ran the pieces lengthwise, with an overlapping seam in the middle.  I mixed up some West Systems, and got to wetting out the cloth.  Once all the cloth was wet it was time to wait.  After the first layer was just tacky I mixed up another batch to fill the weave.  I ended up with 3 coats total.

After the bottom was cured, I laid it up over the keel, lined it up and screwed it to the place.  I traced the keel on the bottom then flipped it back over and sanded the area that would bond to the keel.  I then mixed some epoxy up and flipped it back over, screwed it back up and added some weights for good measure.

Once the hull bottom was cured to the keel I flipped it over, wiped it cleaned, sanded, and cleaned again.  At this time I added a thin skim layer of West Systems 407 fairing compound to the entire bottom and keel.  After that I carefully sanded the entire surface smooth.

My daughter wanted to put her name inside the keel, like a time capsule.  Hopefully never to be opened...😅

Joining hull bottom panels, filling transom holes, scarf joints, and cutting to shape.

Let's go back in time to my first time working on the tugboat in 7 years: Aug 5-10, 2019....

After a few too many years I finally got around to pulling out the hull bottom pieces.  I sanded them where I epoxied the scarfs, and laid them out for joining together with epoxy.  I'm now using the West Systems 105 resin along with the 206(slow) and 205(fast) hardener.  When joining the pieces, I laid the scarfed sections over a piece of 1x6, added the wood-flour-thickened epoxied to the joint, then screwed it down.  You can see in the picture I used vapor barrier plastic and a piece of mdo plywood on top to sandwich and screw down the joint. I also used some weights on top for good measure.  I let the glue joint sit for a day or two, then I removed the screws and plotted out my shape for the hull bottom.  The pics below show the finished shape, rounded corners, and V-shape cutout in aft planing surface to allow for the outboard. 

I also filled the holes in the transom that were left from the screws used in the clamping/molding process, and skimmed over the scarfed sections of the hull bottom.

Paul Elkins Little Miss Sally build x4

So...the other 4 boats I've started are all Paul Elkins' Little Miss Sally design.  I got talking with my dad back in February 2021 about small, easy-to-manage electric boats.  I remembered seeing Paul's design years ago.  One thing led to another, and we decided to build not just one, but 4!  This would allow us to go out in a family or friend group exploring the local waterways.  My parents are quite lucky - they just so happen to live on the Montague River with water access.  The mini boats might just be a perfect fit for them.

Here are a few pics showing Paul's boat, and the progress we have made on ours.  The boats are wood construction with fiberglass outside.  The power source is a modified trolling motor running on 12v.

~Ryan

Laying out hull side shape using fairing stick.

Starting to cut first of eight hull sides.

Here we are clamping the pine sheer clamp to the hull side.  Looking back on this now, it would have been much easier to bend if I made some band saw cuts where the bends were.  And simply filling in the cuts after with epoxy filler.

Using a windlass to bend the sides around the seat station.

This one is almost ready for the hull bottom, just need the steering column former installed.

One hull bottom installed, ready to router edges.

Simple slatted seat design from plans.  We will probably add a padded seat to this before any lengthly trip.

Dry lay-up of combing/front storage compartment.

Long time no post or update.

 Well, after a long hiatus, moving across the country, starting a business, building 2 other boats, and starting 4 more, I'm back to work on the Ferrous Pony (aka Iron Horse).  

We now live on Canada's East coast, more specifically Prince Edward Island.  We made the move out here July 2013.  I guess it was an attempt at taking a slower pace in life.  I think it has worked, and also shown its payoffs.  We have water surrounding us on all sides. The water is always just minutes away.

I'll start off here by showing some pictures of the 16' skiffs (Lumberyard style) I've completed, and a few of the 4 mini boats that are also in the works (Paul Elkins Little Miss Sally).  After, I'll post the progress I've made on the Pony.

Thanks for reading,

 Ryan

My friend and I built one skiff each. We picked away on weekends over the course of a year.  My friend's (black and gray) was built with fixed seat boxes, and has a 25hp Mercury Sea Pro.

Here's a close up profile of my skiff, Cap'n Meow(Hand lettered names by my wife and I.  P.s. our business is Shiny Paint Art Co., We do Sign Painting, lettering, murals, window painting etc.).  I have made removable seat boxes that sit over the hull bottom butt blocks.  I've fit the boat with a 2005 25hp Suzuki 3 cylinder 4 stroke.  Both boats are fibreglassed on the outside, and painted inside.  We used Home Hardware's brand urethane fortified oil enamel on both bottom and top side.  The trailers were custom built up west in Tignish by Martin's Trailers.  Very solid working boat trailer with three flat rollers, for ease of use.

Scarf joints cut and epoxied, keel rounded and taped

 Over the last couple weeks the weather has been one of two ways, very hot and humid or very cold and rainy. Not exactly the most motivating but, I'v managed to work on a few different areas.  I finished cutting my scarf joints on the three bottom hull pieces and applied a couple coats of epoxy and epoxy wood filler to fill the end grain, holes etc.  I wanted to precoat the end grain to ensure the final joining goes together wet and I don't get any dry spots.  The keel has been rounded over with a 1/2" roundover bit and I've applied the 3" 9oz. cloth tape to all 5 rounded edges.  Today  I will be sanding the keel to feather out the glass tape edges.  I hope to get the 6oz glass cloth applied Monday or Tuesday evening.  The photos here show my most recent progress.  Cutting the scarf joints was a messy job!

A few more things done...setting up the garage/Sourcing supplies

I've removed the transom from the jig and everything looks good.  When building my jig I used standard 2x4 stock for setting the transom curvature, this gave me about 2 1/2" curvature when formed in the jig.  With the transom out of the jig and a few days passed, the curvature is now sitting at 2 3/16", well with in the 2"-3 1/2" range the plans call for.

The past couple of days I have cut out my front cabin and two side 1/4 panels to the rough 16"x32" shape, these will be cut and fit in place later on.  I've also setup a table in the garage using a few 2"x10"x8' boards that will span across a couple saw horses to create a table to work on. This should be quick and easy to take down and set up when needed.

During my last trip to the Home Depot I was disappointed to find out they stopped carrying the Norton line of sanding discs!  They now carry the Freud line and the price is much higher at $1.45/disc.  I can't seem to find anyone in town that stocks the 6" sanding disc so I ended up ordering some off ebay, 200 discs at 30 cents a piece....can't beat that!  I'm also having a hard time finding cheap chip brushes.  The lowest price I could find for a 2" chip brush is $1.50ea.  Harbor Freight has packs of 36 for $10.99.  I guess I'll be making a stop at Harbor Freight the next time I cross the boarder.

Transom glued up and molded in Jig/Hull Floor pieces cut out.

Well, it's been a while since my last post...quite a while!  I've continued to work on keel, filling, filleting etc.  I still have to round over the edges with a 1/2 router bit then fill and sand some more before starting the outer glass and epoxy.  I'm working in my basement and don't have the best ventilation so I'll be waiting for a good day to move the keel outside and get the sanding and routing done in one shot.  The last two weekends I cut out the hull floor pieces and transom pieces.  I also got around to building the transom jig and epoxied the transom pieces together and set them up in the jig for molding.  I didn't expect the transom pieces would need as much epoxy as they did.  I used 23oz in total to get a good wet coat that I felt comfortable with.  I used a few screws to dry fit and align the 4 pieces before fitting them into the jig where I used an even grid pattern of 40 or so screws to make sure the center section of the keel would be evenly clamped.  The outside 5 inch perimeter used up about 40 different sized C and spring clamps to finish it off.  The photos below show some of the most recent work.